Three days of sunshine and we’ve all got our shorts out and forgotten about the fact it rained heavily for what felt like thirty million trillion days in a row. What we need is festival good times. Along comes The Great Escape dropping an expanded line-up that features some of the most talked about bands on social media at the moment.
Quite how they will manage to get the costumes on the plane remains to be seen, but the black and white polka dot clad Quebecans, Angine de Poitrine, are bringing their cosmic math rock to Brighton. One imagines deities like these are not troubled by such mundane things as baggage handling. What we are certain of is that they are likely to ensure some pretty hefty queues wherever they play across the weekend. Team Source might even head into town now to bag our spot.
As if that wasn’t enough, today’s announcement is brimming with treats. Local heroes and Bowie fans, The Kooks, who actually played the first Great Escape, are hosting a 20th anniversary show on the beach on Wednesday 13th.
In amongst the wider line-up: always fun Leeds ravers Adult DVD continue their march towards world domination, sumptuous London art rockers Hank will be playing songs from their recent stunning dinked edition, riot grrrls Twat Union will will be bringing their playful theatrical show to town, Modern Guilt lay down their classic Strokesy rock’n’roll, Fez will be rocking their sixties psych groove, Irish two-piece Dee Martona bring their catchy indie pop and embroidery videos that suggest they will be huge, Levitation Orchestra will be adding some welcome deep cosmic jazz to proceedings while former Palma Violets frontman Chilli Jenson brings his new project Dead Dads Club to the seaside, fresh from recording with Fontaines DC.
Brighton bands of course feature heavily, with Lemonsucker leading today’s charge with angular fun catchy Brit punk, alongside SOURCE favourites My Precious Bunny, the ever-excellent Goodbye, the fun and bubbly Yumi And The Weather and local singer-songwriter Maximillion.
The Great Escape Festival
Various Venues – 13th to 16th May 2026
Day and weekend tickets available here
